# Gemini 3.1 Flash

> **TL;DR.** Gemini 3.

- **Category:** AI / Foundation Models
- **Stage:** rising
- **Age:** 92 days
- **Origin date:** 2026-03-03
- **First detected:** 2026-04-16
- **Canonical URL:** https://earlyterms.com/term/gemini-3-1-flash
- **Sources:** 7 primary URLs

## Definition

Gemini 3.1 Flash is Google's mid-2026 speed-tier refresh of the Gemini model family — a family-of-variants brand rather than a single model. Developers use "3.1 Flash" as the umbrella query; Google ships it as specialized siblings: Flash-Lite (text/multimodal), Flash Live (audio), Flash TTS (speech synthesis), and Flash Image (a.k.a. Nano Banana 2).

The tier opened on [March 3, 2026](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-1-flash-lite/) with Flash-Lite at \$0.25/\$1.50 per million input/output tokens — 1/8 the cost of Gemini 3 Pro. [Flash Live](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-1-flash-live/) shipped March 26 for real-time audio; [Flash TTS](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-1-flash-tts/) shipped April 15 with prompt-steerable "audio tags" that control pace, accent, and scene inline.

## Analogy

Think of it as Google's Swiss Army knife — the handle is "3.1 Flash," each blade (Lite, Live, TTS, Image) is tuned for a different cut.

## Why it's emerging now

Google opened the Gemini 3.1 Flash tier with Flash-Lite on March 3 at 1/8 Pro pricing, then shipped Flash Live (audio, March 26) and Flash TTS (April 15) in rapid succession. GTrends related queries are dominated by pricing and API long-tails — developers are evaluating it as a default cheap tier, not just reading launch posts.

## Related terms

- *child:* Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
- *child:* Gemini 3.1 Flash Live
- *child:* Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS
- *child:* Gemini 3.1 Flash Image
- *alias:* Nano Banana 2
- *related:* Gemini 3 Pro
- *parent:* Gemini 2.5 Flash
- *competitor:* claude-opus-4-7
- *competitor:* GPT-5 Mini
- *competitor:* Claude Haiku 4

## Sources

1. [Google — Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite announcement](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-1-flash-lite/)
2. [Google — Gemini 3.1 Flash Live announcement](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-1-flash-live/)
3. [Google — Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS announcement](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-1-flash-tts/)
4. [VentureBeat — Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite at 1/8 the cost of Pro](https://venturebeat.com/technology/google-releases-gemini-3-1-flash-lite-at-1-8th-the-cost-of-pro)
5. [SiliconANGLE — Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite preview launch](https://siliconangle.com/2026/03/03/google-launches-speedy-gemini-3-1-flash-lite-model-preview/)
6. [Simon Willison — Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS with directed prompts](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Apr/15/gemini-31-flash-tts/)
7. [DeepMind — Flash-Lite model card](https://deepmind.google/models/model-cards/gemini-3-1-flash-lite/)

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_Generated by EarlyTerms · https://earlyterms.com/term/gemini-3-1-flash_